D 632 

Copy 1 



'^f^^. 



y of the Services Rendered to 



fi//,j jblic by the American Press 
During the Year 191 7 



By 

Minna Lewinson and 
Henry Beetle Hough 



Lwarded the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism 
Columbia University Commencement, 191 8 



m.i' 




COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
1918 



A History of the Services Rendered to 

the Public by the American Press 

During the Year 1 9 1 7 

Pulitzer Prize in Journalism 
1918 



COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
SALES AGENTS 

New York 

LEMCKE & BUECHNER 

30-32 West 27TH Street 

London 

HUMPHREY MILFORD 

Amen Corner, E.C. 

Shanghai 

EDWARD EVANS & SONS, Ltd. 

30 North Szechuen Road 



A History of the Services Rendered to 

the Pubhc by the American Press 

During the Year 1 9 1 7 



By 

Minna Lewinson and 
Henry Beetle Hough 



Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism 
Columbia University Commencement, 191 8 




COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 

1918 

All rights reserved 






Copyright, 1918 
By COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 



Printed from type, December, 19 18 



M -9 iS.i9 
©CI.A5U8944 



UNIVERSITY PRINTING OFFICE 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



" I 



NOTE 

In accordance with the provisions of the will of the late Joseph 
Pulitzer, the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism of |i,ooo, for the best 
history of the services rendered to the public by the American press 
during the preceding year, was awarded at the 191 8 Commence- 
ment of Columbia University to Minna Lewinson and Henry 
Beetle Hough, students in the School of Journalism, conjointly, 
for this essay. To both was awarded, at the same Commencement, 
the degree of Bachelor of Literature in Journalism. 



A History of the Services Rendered to 

the Public by the American Press 

During the Year 191 7 

1 91 6 was a year of watchful waiting. It was a year of 
recurrent crises — crises faced but not solved. A feverish 
unrest pervaded every sphere of government, politics and 
industry. General business prosperity was coupled with 
general apprehension, and the feeling was broadcast that 
the country was living from hand to mouth. 

The Presidential campaign, unsurpassed for excitement 
and uncertainty, was interrupted by news of ships sunk, 
foreign complications and border troubles. The spark of 
restiveness, fanned into flame by the thousand issues and 
problems of a political campaign, brought the country to 
the point of fire and made it suddenly aware that serious 
problems were confronting it. 

For the newspapers, every one of these difficulties was 
intensified. All the judgment, all the balancing power 
which they possessed was called into play. Sharing with 
the country at large all the vexations of this period, yet 
alone understanding their significance, it was the task of 
the press to sound each apparent crisis as it came up. 
The newspaper was to play an active part in bringing 
about the adjustment of the nation to an entirely new set 
of conditions. 

All this time the press was handicapped by problems 
peculiar to itself. The scarcity of paper, which had begun 
with the war, became more and more serious. When 



paper could be obtained at all, it was only at the most ex- 
orbitant prices. This introduced the deadening necessity 
for retrenchment. The prospect for the coming year was 
far from encouraging. Mr. A. G. Mclntyre of the 
A. N. P. A. prophesied that the newspapers would lose 
ten million dollars in spite of rigid economies, and that the 
efhcient service of the press would be impaired. All costs 
of operation climbed steadily. The very question of exis- 
tence became an added uncertainty for the press. 

But with 19 1 7 uncertainty gave way to the realization 
of definite things to be accomplished. All the befogging 
difficulties of the previous year cleared away before a na- 
tional singleness of purpose. Hesitation had vanished. 
The need for each successive step found the country 
ready. With a suddenness which startled the world, the 
United States swung from inaction into action. In the 
accomplishment of this transition the dominant influ- 
ence was that of the American press. 

Almost at the beginning of the new year, Germany's 
note declaring unrestricted U-boat warfare broke the con- 
ditions of 1 91 6. Discussion and preachment had prepared 
the public mind to understand the significance of such a 
declaration; now the newspapers urged or demanded 
definite courses of action. The breaking off of relations 
with the Imperial German Government was a direct result 
of public will made intelligible by and in the newspapers. 

This was recognized at the time of its occurrence by the 
"Editor and Publisher" whose appraisal is made weighty 
by its intimate contact with the press of the nation. 

This magazine said on February 10, "In the intervening 
days (between the arrival of the German note and the 
break of relations) the newspapers of the country had 
voiced the popular sentiment with unerring accuracy. 
They had interpreted the will and temper of Americans. 



A sorely-tried Chief Executive need have sought no fur- 
ther than the editorial pages of the newspapers for evi- 
dence of the full approval of the American people of the 
momentous step taken last Saturday. The editors of the 
country, in demanding an immediate severance of diplo- 
matic relations between the United States and Germany, 
spoke from no motives of personal bias or prejudice. They 
merely voiced the grim decision of a people whose patience 
and forbearance had been tried beyond the uttermost 
limits." 

Even those newspapers which had been pacifistic, still 
retaining their desire and hope for peace, exerted their 
full influence in support of the President. Those who 
classed the Hearst newspapers as disloyal recognized their 
nation-wide stand on the side of action. 

On January 20, the San Francisco Chronicle, one of 
many other energetic propagandists for peace, said, "The 
path of victory can never lead to permanently harmonious 
relations." After the break, it simply said, "We can rely 
on the President." 

Throughout the country there was a marked absence of 
jingoism. The press advocated action against Germany 
not because of belligerency, but because it was the irre- 
ducible minimum for the United States under the circum- 
stances. No such furor of patriotism was aroused as at 
the time of the Spanish-American War, but there was in- 
stead a sober appeal to reason and to loyalty. Carefully 
avoiding a headlong rush toward hostilities, the news- 
papers awakened the people to a sense of their responsibili- 
ties and prepared them for action when the time should 
come. The step was accomplished deliberately and tem- 
perately, not with blind impulsiveness. Such established 
newspapers as the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, 
and the Kansas City Star, as well as the smallest country 

3 



weeklies, devoted their entire energies to putting before 
the people all sides of the great issue. 

With the same restraint, the press withheld judgment 
during the trying months when the sinking of any ship 
might have been construed as the overt act for which an 
anxious nation was waiting. Far from being united in a 
mad scramble for war, editorial opinion was divided as to 
the wisdom of armed neutrality. Nevertheless, when the 
Administration had decided upon this course, a united 
press joined with it in condemning the "small group of 
wilful men" who attempted to block the Armed Ship Bill. 

Absolute impartiality and freedom from bias marked 
practically every editorial page in the country. It was 
through the news columns that the public was kept in- 
formed, and from full knowledge of the facts was forced 
to final decision. 

With the declaration of war, the nation and the press 
were galvanized into concerted action. Those who had 
steadfastly held to the hope of peace, flung themselves 
wholeheartedly into the efficient waging of war. Both the 
Administration and the public relied upon the newspaper 
— the one for cooperation, the other for its very contact 
with current affairs. 

Severely tested in this crisis, the response from German- 
American publications showed a gratifying loyalty. No 
matter what the cost, they came unflinchingly to the sup- 
port of the United States. From the time of the break, the 
course which they would take was clear. The "Editor and 
Publisher" said of them, "The newspapers printed in the 
German language in the United States, all of them 'Pro- 
German* when the German Empire's interests had to be 
weighed against the interests of the nations at war with 
her, have rallied to the American cause with gratifying 
unanimity in the present crisis." 

4 



From the editorial pages of German-American dailies 
came such stirring response as this from the St. Louis 
Westliche Post: "We are bound to Germany by blood, to 
America by free will. A heavy sacrifice is demanded and 
it will be given." The Omaha Tribune said: "Our allegi- 
ance belongs to America first, last and all the time. These 
duties we must perform above all considerations and re- 
gardless of what the future may have in store for us." 

Like sentiments were expressed with varying emphasis 
by such representative journals as the San Francisco 
Demokrat, the New York Staats-Zeitung, the Milwaukee 
Germania Herold, and the Cincinnati Volkshlatt. One of 
the strongest German papers in the West, the Colorado 
Herold, whose editor was President of the Colorado Ger- 
man-American Alliance with more than 40,000 members, 
came unequivocally to the support of America in the war. 

War brought the press of the nation face to face with its 
greatest problem. The facts of history in the making 
must be brought before the public; at the same time there 
must not be the slightest embarrassment to the country 
in the conduct of war. Together with the unprecedented 
need for publicity and discussion came also the unprece- 
dented need for many specific concealments and for sup- 
pression of ill-timed sentiments. 

Everyone expected a censorship. The government took 
immediate steps in this direction, and shortly after the out- 
break of war the Committee on Public Information was 
constituted. But the only real censorship was that which 
the press voluntarily exercised from the very first day. 
The execution of President Wilson's principles came from 
city rooms all over the country and not from an office in 
Washington. By no stretch of the imagination could this 
execution have been so immediate and so complete under 

5 



any committee as it was under the loyal cooperation of the 
nation's editors. 

In the field of magazine and other publicity, this agency 
justified its existence, but in its relationship with the press 
it was practically useless. Intended as directing force of 
the censorship, it was not even of assistance to the news- 
papers in their work. 

On the very day of the declaration of war came the 
first instance of the voluntary suppression of military news. 
At 2:30 a. m., with the plates for its first edition already 
on the presses, the Milwaukee Free Press received a flash: 
"Editors — Kill army bill story by order of censor." There 
were only two things to do — either to ignore the request 
from Washington or to chisel the stereotyped plate. It is 
a question whether the article really should have been 
withheld from the public. It was probably legitimate 
news of the day, containing the first outline of the plan for 
conscription. That all newspapers could be reached in 
time to stop the story was improbable. Yet, with unques- 
tioning respect for the order, the Free Press chose to use 
the chisel. Thousandsof copieswent outwith half acolumn 
on the front page a meaningless mass of hieroglyphics. 

A story apparently showing the existence of an exten- 
sive German spy system throughout the country was sent 
out by the Associated Press the first of August. The 
arrest of several agents was made to seem the first of a 
series of sensational developments. This story, on the 
authority of United States officials, was easily the best 
news of the day. But a little later editors were informed 
that Washington considered the dispatch exaggeration 
and requested that it be killed. Without more ado the 
newspapers complied. The story never appeared. 

Most signal among the triumphs of voluntary censor- 
ship was that by which movements of American troops 

6 



were protected by absolute secrecy, and yet every tiding 
of their welfare given the fullest publicity. In the prompt 
publication of the disasters to the "Antilles," the "Jacob 
Jones" and the "Finland," the press and the public has ful- 
filment of Secretary Daniels' spoken promise that there 
should be no concealment of unfavorable or tragic news. 
Thus the Government has reciprocated the cooperation 
of the newspaper, and made easy its twofold task. For 
although it is the business of a free press to give the people 
the news, it is also its business to refrain from doing any- 
thing that might even tend to hinder the government's 
war program. 

Untold numbers of American troops are now in France. 
For many months American generals have been conduct- 
ing operations on European soil. Were it not for the vol- 
untary care of the editors of the nation, these troops and 
these generals, deprived of their most effective safeguard 
against the enemy U-boats — secrecy — might never have 
reached their destination. It is impossible to exaggerate 
the service thus performed. 

First went General Pershing with his expeditionary 
force. Although the time of his going was known to every 
news-gathering agency, yet the first news printed was 
that of his safe arrival. Since that time many camps have 
been vacated in unbroken silence, so surely have the city 
rooms of the country kept faith. They knew when the 
Rainbow Division left, yet that information was kept 
within their walls until the division had safely landed. 
The news of the departure of an American fleet of destroy- 
ers was not published until several days after the safe 
arrival of the expedition in a British port. 

Diplomatic missions to and from this country have been 
safeguarded with the same scrupulous zeal. The first 
intimation the country had of our purpose to send repre- 

7 



sentatives to the Allied War Conference was the appear- 
ance of Col. House and his associates in England. When 
the American public learned that Papa JofTre was to visit 
them, he was already on a train for New York, with his 
distinguished colleagues, Viviani and Balfour. The 
English and French commissioners were followed by 
envoys from Japan, Italy and Serbia. In each case the 
gaests were guarded by a circumspect press. 

In applying the voluntary censorship, the newspapers 
made over entirely one of the most important news de- 
partments. With curtailed notices of transatlantic sail- 
ings, the term "An Atlantic Port" has come into general 
use, and the indefinite has superseded the definite. The 
greatest care is taken to avoid any details that might en- 
danger trade. 

When military disaster overtook the Italian army. King 
Victor Emmanuel declared for a policy of peace, and it 
was only the drastic intervention of his ministers that 
kept Italy in the war. These facts were current in the 
newspaper offtces here, but in none were they printed. 
Inasmuch as Italy did stand by her allies, the publication 
of such a piece of news would have done no good, and would 
only have made the task of winning the war more arduous. 

Long before the voluntary censorship became a prob- 
lem, the press of the country was preparing the public 
mind for the selective service law. Against a background 
of discussion of compulsory military training, continuing 
since 19 14, came, with the entrance of the United States 
into the war, a positive and persistent demand for a demo- 
cratic army system. Notwithstanding the drafts of the 
Civil War, the idea of conscription was foreign and repul- 
sive to the American people. By no sudden or jingoistic 
plea was this feeling overcome, but by a long-continued 
and unbiased discussion. Through the columns of their 

8 



newspapers Americans were made to realize that conscrip- 
tion was in accord with those principles of democracy for 
which they had stood in the past, and for which they were 
about to fight. 

An example of the energetic backing which the draft 
law received while it was still before Congress was that of 
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This journal conducted a 
thorough-going canvass of seventy- five Missouri commu- 
nities, and demonstrated that they were five to one in 
favor of conscription. It also polled the press of that 
state, and found general support of the measure. The 
Post-Dispatch also led Speaker Champ Clark's home state 
in a repudiation of his anticonscription policy. The same 
thing was done on a smaller scale by the New York World, 
which, when the question was uppermost, sent its repor- 
ters broadcast over New York City, and showed a power- 
ful endorsement of compulsory military service. 

When the conscription law was finally passed, the news- 
papers were of the greatest assistance in getting the ma- 
chinery in smooth running order. The press acted as a 
unit in printing reproductions of the registration blanks, 
and full explanations as to how they should be filled out. 
The fact that registration was successful beyond all ex- 
pectation was due almost entirely to this educational 
publicity. 

This was the first actual interference of the federal gov- 
ernment in the life of the individual citizen. How neces- 
sary was some correlating agency was not appreciated 
until the press had voluntarily risen to the emergency. So 
uniformly alive were the editors to the responsibilities 
thus assumed that there was no confusion. The man who 
ventured into the most rural districts, the man thousands 
of miles away from home, the man who was traveling 
constantly— each was as closely in touch with his own 

9 



situation as if he had been at home. In a crucial situation, 
totally unprecedented, the newspaper supplied the link 
without which it now seems as if the registration must 
have been a failure. 

In rounding up the small minority who wilfully failed to 
register, many active dailies were of great service to the 
government. A striking instance of this was the effective 
use to which Federal authorities put the registration lists 
published in full in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The co- 
operation of the entire community was thus secured, as it 
could have been in no other way. 

Then came the lottery. In itself a gigantic task, it was 
made even more difficult by the precipitate shifting of 
plans twice in succession. The newspapers, having care- 
fully made their plans for the handling of the figures, 
were forced to change them at the last minute. The 
uncertainty as to the hour at which the drawing would 
take place made it necessary for every newspaper office to 
keep regular and extra staff available at a moment's 
notice. When at last the figures began to come, the wires 
were cleared of all other matter, and no newspaper re- 
source or energy was spared in the effort to get the draw- 
ings before the public as quickly and accurately as 
possible. 

On Saturday, July 21, practically every morning news- 
paper throughout the country gave to its readers the com- 
plete list of the numbers drawn at Washington with the 
corresponding serial numbers, so that every one who had 
registered could easily find his place in the draft. Already, 
while the drawing was still in progress, the evening papers 
of the night before had published the lists of those who 
would first be called. The biggest news story in the his- 
tory of the country had been handled with superlative effi- 
ciency in time and accuracy. 

10 



Additional handicaps under which some of the offices 
labored made their achievements the greater. Delay of 
the Massachusetts authorities in issuing the serial numbers 
actually doubled the task in that state. When the num- 
bers drawn at Washington began to arrive, there were no 
key-lists by which to find the names. Only by dint of 
expensive telegraph and telephone communication with 
Boston were the evening editions able to keep up with 
those of other states. Long-time rivalries were forgotten 
in a general pooling of resources in a work of public spirit. 

Several of the largest Chicago dailies joined forces in 
making the list as complete and as immune from error as 
possible. To deal with the vast number of figures inci- 
dental to the size of that city they hired a large extra 
clerical force and established a central headquarters. So 
adequate were the tables printed in the New York papers 
that they were used by exemption boards in widely distant 
places pending the arrival of the master-lists. 

On the evening of July 20, the very day of the drawing, 
the Kansas City Star published seventeen columns of 
names and also numbers as far as they had been drawn. 
The diagrammatic key printed in the St. Louis Post-Dis- 
patch, by the application of which a man could find not 
only how he stood in the draft, but his liability in his own 
district, was highly praised by the exemption boards of 
the vicinity. On the Pacific Coast the handling of the 
San Francisco Examiner was noteworthy. It published, 
on July 21, double the quota of names by districts. 

"Believing it to be a patriotic duty," the Birmingham 
Age-Herald published several days before the drawing the 
registration lists with the red-ink numbers, thus enabling 
the registrants to find their standing as their numbers ap- 
peared. Another Southern paper, the Florida Times- 
Union, carried in its columns the full list of names and 

II 



addresses of those to be examined, before the notices were 
mailed. As soon as the official master-lists came from 
Washington, they were reproduced by photography in the 
Minneapolis Journal to make certain absolute accuracy. 
These are only a few of the most conspicuous examples of 
how the American press, in the face of tremendous diffi- 
culties, gave the vital information to an anxious public. 

. In the days that followed, while the exemption boards 
were struggling to adjust themselves to a situation of 
irritation and chaos, they incurred an enormous debt to 
the newspapers. The value of the space freely given to the 
many columns of names issued by the boards, their an- 
nouncements and the chronicles of their activities would 
aggregate millions of dollars. Their task in making diffi- 
cult decisions was facilitated by the wide publicity fur- 
nished at every turn. 

This service continued as a matter of routine until the 
first call to the draft camps came on the first of Septem- 
ber. Then there was added to it the complex duty of 
keeping the public in touch with conditions at the canton- 
ments. Those whose brothers, husbands and sweethearts 
had gone were eager for information regarding their wel- 
fare. With all the care and detail of regular war corre- 
spondence, the cities were in close touch with the camps. 

A national responsibility for moral conditions surround- 
ing the citizen army was assumed by the press, which set 
on foot a general and far-reaching clean-up campaign. 
On the Pacific Coast the big cities of Seattle, Portland, 
Tacoma and others, all accessible from Camp Lewis, 
carried through sweeping reforms, in which the news- 
papers took active part. In every large city near a draft 
camp similar energetic movements took place. The same 
close scrutiny was extended to the regular army camps. 

12 



In the whole matter of keeping a watchful eye over the 
clothing and provisioning of both drafted ancf enlisted men 
the real initiative was that of the American editor. Not 
only were both sides of the Congressional ordnance 
inquiry faithfully presented, but the peculiar needs of 
each camp were given to the public as they were revealed. 
It was through this agency that the public was enabled to 
keep abreast with the development of its national army 
system. As the year ended many important improve- 
ments were contemplated as a result of this activity. 

By pointing out the injustices in the old draft system the 
press opened up the way for complete revision in the 
second call. All the services rendered the nation in the 
summer were repeated in extra measure in the winter. 
The involved questionnaire multiplied the difficulties of 
the individual registrant, and made the necessity for 
detailed explanation much more pressing. 

In his annual report Secretary of War Baker names 
three elements to which he attributes the success of the 
draft. Second only to the executive officials themselves 
and the cooperation of the states he places the American 
press. Other administrative heads have given the news- 
paper an even higher rank. With an unprecedented 
undertaking carried through in 191 7, it is certain to per- 
form an invaluable service in whatever drafts the future 
may bring. 

No less generous was the response to the demands of the 
Liberty Loan, which, in contrast to the enormous com- 
plexity of the service in connection with the draft, was a 
blunt question of direct financial sacrifice. The value of 
the advertising freely contributed mounted into the bil- 
lions for each campaign. Moreover, it was a kind of pub- 
licity that no private agency or corporation, however 
wealthy, could have obtained. Not only was it far- 

13 



reaching, but it had behind it all the power and goodwill 
of the press. In spite of the fact that the Government 
was spending large sums on billboards and other forms of 
advertising, the newspapers, by far the most effective 
force, were not paid. 

But although the services in connection with the first 
loan were great, they were redoubled with the second. A 
study of news columns during the first campaign shows 
that Liberty Loan stories in surprising numbers were 
kept upon the front page. During the second campaign 
they were given more space and even more conspicuously 
featured. After the second loan had been over-subscribed, 
Benjamin Strong, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank 
of New York, wrote to the newspapers of that district ex- 
pressing his appreciation of their work. 

"You undoubtedly realize," he said, "that these great 
Government loans can only be placed by creating a public 
opinion which is irresistible, and that the function of the 
reserve bank organization is only to gather the crop when 
it matures, the preliminary planting and cultivation be- 
ing, in fact, the publicity upon which we must rely for 
success. 

"The newspapers of this city by their influence and sup- 
port have contributed to this result far beyond what was 
done at the time of the first loan, beyond what any of us 
expected would be possible, and they are certainly en- 
titled to the gratitude of the people of this district and of 
the country." 

Throughout the nation the directors of the drive have 
expressed their gratitude in language just as strong. At 
the end of the year Secretary McAdoo sent this message 
to the editors and publishers of the nation: 

It would be impossible to exaggerate the value of the service 
rendered by the editors and publishers of the United States in the 

14 



two recent Liberty Loan campaigns and in the War Savings Stamp 
campaign now in progress. The support given by the press was 
as broad in scope as it was patriotic in purpose. Rural weeklies, 
metropolitan dailies, story leaflets and powerful magazines alike 
contributed most generous service to the great cause in which 
America fights. Without their most valuable assistance the vital 
financial operations of the government could not have been suc- 
cessful. 

In two other great campaigns the press lent its columns 
to a humanitarian purpose. Each time the Red Cross 
undertook a nation-wide membership drive, the greatest 
success was made possible only by the free publicity and 
helpful cooperation of the city rooms. Because of this co- 
operation the campaign expenses of the Red Cross have 
been so cut that, unlike other relief organizations, it has 
been able to devote its entire income to the purpose for 
which it was collected. The newspapers have been the 
mouthpiece of the Red Cross, bringing home to their 
readers the worthiness of its cause and the greatness of its 
need. Not yet can the significance of this service be ap- 
preciated. It will be felt more as time goes on. 

More immediate was the service performed by what 
was practically a partnership with Mr. Hoover. Not only 
was the press responsible for the public demand for his 
appointment, but it was indispensable in carrying on his 
work. It not only popularized the phrase "to Hooverize," 
but popularized the act as well. 

In all kinds of diverse ways it made conservation an 
integral part of American life. All over the country cook 
books and instructions for home gardening were dis- 
tributed with the evening paper. Every woman's page 
from coast to coast carried war menus and canning hints. 
Economy was unceasingly urged and practical means of 
accomplishing it presented. It was the peculiar function 
of this service to inculcate the most radical form of thrift, 

15 



and yet to preserve the popular balance so as to forestall 
hoarding. It is difficult to estimate the value of this 
work, but without it the assumption is safe that there 
might have been a more desperate crisis in the food supply 
of America and her allies. 

The same is true of the Fuel Administration under Mr. 
Garfield, which, with the aid of the newspapers, tided the 
country over hardships which became extreme at the end 
of the year. This aid made successful the experiment of 
saving coal by lightless nights. In many instances where 
individuals or corporations failed to observe the order, 
the power of publicity forced them into line. 

Not content with lending the full weight of its support 
to the Government, the press took the initiative in the 
hunting down of sedition and Pro-Germanism. Through 
zeal for the country's welfare newspapers even ran the 
risk of libel suits, such as that brought by Mayor Thomp- 
son of Chicago against the Chicago Tribune. 

Among the outstanding features in the New York 
newspapers were the Alien Enemy columns in the Herald 
and the "Who's Who against America" in the Tribune. 
Both of these, one a list, the other a series of articles, 
attempted to expose as much as possible all forms of 
German propaganda. These are a few examples of the 
forms which the energies of the American press took along 
such lines. 

Not content with exposing sedition, the newspapers 
urged citizens to enlist in the war. The same liberality of 
space, the same sustained effort and the same remarkable 
results as characterized the Liberty Loan and Red Cross 
campaigns were again in evidence. When Secretary 
Daniels wanted to get the President's call for men for the 
Navy direct to the people, he did not confer with the bill- 
posters and car card men. He asked the newspapers to 

i6 



print his appeal on the front page. The results of this 
kind of recruiting were recognized in the tribute paid the 
newspapers by Major W. H. Parker in charge of Marine 
Corps recruiting. In a letter sent to the editors of the 
country he said : 

Please let me take this occasion to thank you folks for pitch- 
ing in and making possible the wonderful recruiting work we 
have been able to perform during the year just closing. You 
rolled up your sleeves — threw wide open your columns — we 
filled our ranks with the highest type of recruits. 

Another way in which the press helped both the Gov- 
ernment and the public was in unraveling the complexities 
of the new war tax system. Had not wide publicity accus- 
tomed the people to the strangeness and intricacies of its 
provisions, a tremendous loss of efficiency might have 
resulted. The postal system would have been clogged. 
The theater box offices would have seethed with angry 
mobs. There would have been endless conflict with every 
railroad ticket sold. The collection of these new taxes, 
which face each individual at every turn, and on which he 
must be fully informed, was made possible speedily and 
without friction through the agency of the news columns. 

Not the only inconvenience with which the traveler had 
to put up was the railroad tax. General curtailment of 
passenger service has been accomplished with a minimum 
of discontent. The traveling public has acquiesced while 
the Government practically monopolized the rails for the 
shipment of freight. Utterly unprecedented, such a 
thing could not have happened without the loyalty of a 
united press. 

As never before, the United States was brought face to 
face this year with the fact that labor is the force that 
makes the world go 'round. To some extent every city 
and town felt an unrest inevitable with the re-adjustments 

17 



of war conditions. So far as actual efficiency is con- 
cerned, the greatest problem of a country at. war is to 
maintain the maximum speed and output and make 
fullest use of its resources, and at the same time to be fair 
to the laborer in the matter of hours and wages. 

The beginning of August the lumber men of Washington 
struck for an eight-hour day, and tied up the lumber indus- 
try of that state, which was essential to the supply of 
spruce for America's great airplane project. In Septem- 
ber the wooden shipbuilders and later the metal ship- 
builders walked out in sympathetic strike and left the 
greater part of the country's new tonnage incomplete on 
the ways of Seattle, During the long period of attempting 
to adjust the difficulties the newspapers were the one cool 
and stabilizing influence. Their sane and impartial atti- 
tude is typified by the Seattle Post- Intelligencer, which 
said: 

We are in war, and must give our whole-hearted energy and 
devotion to our country, but meanwhile we should take time to 
be fair and just to the men who labor at home to sustain the 
soldiers in the field. 

Settlement was finally achieved by a uniform wage 
scale prepared by the Federal Shipbuilding and Labor 
Adjustment Board. Although this imposed reductions in 
some cases, it was accepted by the men, who had come to 
realize, as that same paper pointed out, that the shipyard 
owners were, for the duration of the war, merely agents of 
the government, and that a strike would be a strike against 
federal authority. Upon that representation came indus- 
trial peace after an entire summer of turmoil, in which 
practically every national executive, including President 
Wilson, Secretary Baker and Secretary McAdoo, had 
pleaded in vain. 

i8 



A new element was introduced in the terrible race riots 
in East St. Louis, fundamentally economic and industrial 
in their origin. Here the press had a different sort of 
problem to deal with, and it was unanimous in its de- 
mands that no such outrage be permitted to occur again. 
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch at once struck the keynote of 
the situation when it said : 

Should the influx of negroes accentuate race prejudice and 
create at the North some of the evils heretofore distinctive to 
the South, a duty is imposed on the North to combat them 
much more effectively than the South has combatted them. 
A rioter declared Monday night that "There is no law against 
violence" in some cases. Perpetrators of race outrages should 
be made to know that there is such a law, and that it will be 
drastically applied. 

This and other dailies scrutinized the local inquiries and 
demanded Congressional action. They did not rest until 
the offenders were punished and there was a promise of 
better industrial conditions. 

The race and labor riots of Flat River were a logical 
continuation of the riots in East St. Louis. White workers 
of foreign nationality and speech were hunted down by the 
Flat River mob. From the press came the demand that 
the Missouri authorities take immediate and vigorous 
action. That harmony was restored and that work went 
on as before was a direct result of this demand. 

In other labor troubles the element of disloyalty com- 
plicated matters. But no talk of German pay and German 
propaganda kept the American press from being fair even 
to the extremists of the L W. W. movement. In August 
a host of striking miners was expelled from Bisbee, Ari- 
zona. Officials of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation took the 
law into their own hands and imposed an absolute news 
censorship, seizing all telegraph lines. Not until the 

19 



Associated Press broke through this illicit censorship did 
the country know the truth about the Arizona affair, and 
that the miners were not all German hirelings. The auto- 
cratic attempt of these officials which would have worked 
a national injustice was exposed, and their punishment 
brought about, by the news service. 

On the other hand, wherever the I. W. W. proved itself 
a disturbing and disloyal force, the press was largely in- 
strumental in bringing the offenders to justice. The news- 
paper was the greatest influence in weeding out the unde- 
sirable labor elements, and in upholding the desirable ones. 

Whether or not Thomas J. Mooney was guilty of murder 
in the bomb outrage on the San Francisco preparedness 
parade cannot yet be clear. Whatever the outcome may 
be, the press of the country performed a great service by 
emphatically calling attention to the grave doubts in the 
situation. 

Another national question, in which constructive pub- 
licity was necessary as an intermediary between the peo- 
ple and Congress, was that of prohibition. In the year 
1917 the states of Michigan, Utah, Nebraska and New 
Mexico became "bone dry." The Supreme Court upheld 
the Webb-Kenyon law prohibiting shipments of liquor 
into dry states. Congress finally adopted a prohibition 
amendment to be submitted to the states. Through all of 
this, the great service of the press was to keep uppermost 
in the minds of the people the necessity for prohibition to 
conserve grain and alcohol during the war. No amount of 
influence on the part of the big liquor interests could offset 
the facts daily published broadcast. In this matter the 
newspapers and the pulpit were the deciding factors. By 
them a willing public guided its action on one of the most 
important questions of the day. 

20 



Not only were the people required to make this sacri- 
fice, but they were constantly appealed to for contribu- 
tions to war charities. Every cause, no matter how 
worthy, depended upon the press to reach the public. 
How well this medium recognized and rose to the occasion 
was shown by the surprisingly ready results. Yet all the 
great sums which were contributed solely because of this 
publicity imposed upon the newspaper a heavy responsi- 
bility. It was its duty to see that every penny collected 
through its agency should go to the purpose for which it 
was intended. The editors of the country were keenly 
alive to their new obligation and scanned carefully every 
charity to which they lent their aid. 

In New York City as a direct result of the World's 
expose of the $7 1457 Army and Navy Bazaar that netted 
$754 the Board of Aldermen passed unanimously an 
ordinance placing all entertainments for charity other than 
those of religious and fraternal organizations under regu- 
lation of the Department of Licenses. The investigation 
started by the World unearthed a network of other enter- 
prises such as the fake Russian Ambulance. Before the 
inquiries ceased, accounts of all charities had been gone 
over thoroughly, so that only the legitimate could survive 
and public confidence in them was firmly established. 

In sharp contrast to the year before, in 191 7 American 
citizens took almost as much interest in foreign affairs as 
in domestic, and some of the best newspaper work of the 
year was done in this field. Through the work of staff 
correspondents in the capitals of Europe, the press kept 
the reading and thinking people of the United States in- 
formed on the progress of the war through consistent 
publication of important feature articles, interviews with 
men of international fame, descriptions of battlefields, 
and exposures of diplomatic intrigues. 

21 



The most striking illustration of this last was the pub- 
lication in the New York Herald and the later syndication 
of the so-called "Willy-Nicky correspondence." Of these 
Theodore Roosevelt wrote to the translator, Herman 
Bernstein: 

I congratulate you on the noteworthy service you have 
rendered by the discovery and publication of these letters. 
They illustrate with a glare like a flashlight the dark places of 
the diplomacy in autocratic nations as it really is. . . With 
these documents before them, no Americans who hereafter 
directly or indirectly support the Prussianized Germany of the 
Hohenzollerns can claim to stand in good faith for human 
rights, equal justice, and the liberty of small, well-behaved 
nations. Let me repeat, my dear sir, that in publishing these 
letters you have rendered signal service to this nation and to 
all mankind. 

Equally important with the task of keeping America 
in touch with foreign affairs was the task of keeping Ameri- 
cans abroad in touch with domestic affairs. The Chicago 
Tribune published a special war edition which it sent over 
to our soldiers. All American newspapers have cooper- 
ated in keeping the troops informed. They have sent 
special editions to the training camps, and newspaper men 
quartered there have assisted in getting out camp publi- 
cations. The psychological effect of this in keeping up the 
spirits of the men should not be underestimated. 

Just as the newspapers had a tremendous effect upon 
the war, so the war inevitably affected the newspapers. 
It has increased the cost of production and decreased the 
volume and also the revenue of advertising. The rise in 
cost of news print paper and the demand for a larger circu- 
lation has forced many dailies to put up their price. Even 
with this advance and with increased advertising rates, 
they have suffered losses over previous years. This has 

22 



been true in spite of the check set by the Federal Trade 
Commission on the advance in the price of white paper. 
To this difficulty was added the proposition to tax news- 
papers in new ways. The newspapers were ready cheer- 
fully to pay their share, but they felt that this tax of five 
per cent, on the net income in addition to their other 
taxes was a flagrant injustice. Technically and financially 
it was the hardest year they had ever been called upon to 
weather, but through it all they gave freely of their ener- 
gies and their valuable space in the performance of great 
services to the nation. 

What these services were has already been pointed out. 
By hearty cooperation along definite lines, the press has 
made possible the efficient waging of the war to this stage. 
It has buoyed up public confidence in the business and 
financial world. Business has felt the encouragement of 
its substantial backing. In every field and in every sphere 
of activity it has aided the public and the nation. Nor 
was its support blind and unreasoning. On the contrary 
the support of the American press has been along broad 
lines of constructive criticism, intelligent appraisal, and 
fearless action. During our first year of participation in 
the war, its record has been something of which every 
American could be proud. It has been servant of the 
Administration, steward of the public interest, and yet 
its own master. 

There were few national affairs not directly connected 
with the war which attracted the attention of the public 
during the year. All of them were inherited from the past, 
but all received new importance in 191 7. They were all 
concerned with the safeguarding of democracy. In the 
Senate contest on cloture, a united press stood for the 
principles of free speech. It protested, too, against the 
injustice that would be inflicted yearly upon hundreds of 

23 



thousands by the passage of the Hteracy test. With Hke 
energy it gave wide pubHcity to the so-called "leak" to 
Wall Street, and continued its unrelenting fight against 
the "Pork Barrel." In a year monopolized by war the 
public character of this work should not go unnoticed. 
The course of the American newspaper in national affairs 
is so undeviating that its service is taken as a matter of 
course. 

The important contributions of dailies in the United 
States were not limited to national affairs, but some of 
their most important work was done in purely local 
matters. This work was the vitalizing force in move- 
ments of politics, reform, health, and every civic and 
community advance. 

Twenty-four hours after the murder of a policeman in 
the Fifth Ward of Philadelphia on primary day, the 
North American published an accusation of the mayor. 
The facts on which those accusations, which became a 
matter of court record, rest became known to the entire 
public through a detailed presentation of the testimony 
by the press. While the excitement was at its height it 
warned the Administration that .any attempts to tamper 
with grand and petit juries would result in unrelenting ex- 
posure and persecution. Throughout the investigation of 
the circumstances of the killing, and the entire conduct of 
the trial, the press of Philadelphia prevented corruption, 
guaranteed justice, kept the people informed, and aided 
the authorities by bringing to light new details and new 
witnesses. 

The municipal campaign of New York City, perhaps the 
most exciting and hotly contested in the history of the city, 
was greatly influenced by the newspapers. In its series 
"Who is John F. Hylan?" the New York World showed rare 

24 



resourcefulness, initiative and daring. At the same time, the 
Hearst papers dwelt on the merits of Mr. Hylanand pointed 
out the weaknesses in Mayor Mitchel's administration. In 
the contest between two different forms of publicity, the 
more popular won. The catch-phrase "Vanderbilt calls 
him Jack" and the back page cartoons of the American 
and Journal undoubtedly had more weight than the more 
seriously executed exposes in the World. This contest in 
which the newspapers of the city divided into two camps, 
all acting according to their own lights, and all putting 
every effort into the fight, illustrates the difficulties with 
which the press has to deal in its battle for the public 
welfare. It will take the impartiality of a historian to 
judge this municipal election, but at any rate the news- 
papers left no stone unturned to arouse the city to a 
realization of its duty. 

There is little doubt that the election of Andrew J . 
Peters as Mayor of Boston was a triumph for the news- 
papers working in the best interests of the city. After a 
campaign cheapened by the candidates themselves, a de- 
cisive vote ended the Curley administration. 

In countless other instances has the press kept a watch- 
ful eye over local politics. As a direct result of its pub- 
licity an investigation of the District Attorney's office in 
New York City was made early in the year. The so-called 
"West-Side Grab" was also the source of much comment. 
All the people of San Francisco were directly affected by 
the fight waged on the front pages of its dailies against the 
street railway and water companies. As a result, these 
public utilities were made responsive to public will. Con- 
stitutional amendments in Massachusetts were the occa- 
sion for a statewide educational campaign in the news 
columns. 

25 



A housecleaning social and political was achieved in the 
New Jersey State prison by the New York Evening Post. 
A reporter who wrote vividly what he had seen there led 
state officials to remedy outrageous conditions. 

As a social factor, the newspaper was more than ever a 
force in the community. In a striking number of ways 
it made the life of the people better, safer, more cheerful. 
This was remarkably illustrated by activities set on foot 
during the year by a single New York daily, the Evening 
Mail. Its "Save-a-Home" campaign kept hundreds of 
families from the streets. Its movement to use the parks 
to transform New York from the "city of dreadful streets" 
brought the people to a realization of how they were sacri- 
ficing children in the congested districts of the East Side. 
Its exposes of the hoarding of milk by profiteers, and the 
selling of unsanitary milk saved the lives of thousands of 
babies. Its gift of advertising space and its appeal to em- 
ployers won Work for many men over forty-five. Its ur- 
gent plea found jobs for hundreds of Plattsburgers who 
would otherwise have been idle while awaiting assignment 
to service. Its page displays on the Gary system enlight- 
ened countless parents as to what that system really 
meant. 

In safeguarding the health of a community the news- 
paper was one of the most potent influences. The Dallas 
News printed a constructive and informative health arti- 
cle every day. The nature of these articles and their effect 
on the public can be obtained from this typical title : 

TUBERCULOSIS CAUSED 169 DEATHS IN DALLAS 
IT CAN BE PREVENTED! 

Throughout the country local dailies maintained last 
year as every year summer camps for poor children. Such 

26 



papers as the Indianapolis News and the Hartford Courant 
gave wide publicity to appeals for support for the camps 
which they established. The hot summer months in a 
crowded city were made easier by free distribution of ice 
by the New York Herald. In St. Louis, the Star brought 
the price of milk to sixteen cents a quart and saved a 
million a year for the city. It threw all the weight of its 
influence into a plea for community milk distribution. 

Realizing the deplorable condition of rural schools in 
the vicinity, the Atlanta Constitution made repeated and 
earnest pleas for taxation for that purpose and for the 
maintenance of an adequate educational system. The 
same paper carried on a vigorous campaign for transpor- 
tation facilities between Atlanta and Camp Gordon. As a 
result of this movement the use of the tracks of the 
Southern Railroad and the promise of a double track 
trolley was won. 

The newspapers of five cities were called upon in 19 17 
to handle the great religious revival of "Billy" Sunday. 
If in these five cities he won a single reform or accom- 
plished a single good, newspaper help counted. They co- 
operated with him gladly, not only printing his sermons 
verbatim, but following his campaign with extended news 
reports, special articles and pictures. During the Boston 
campaign many New England papers planned and con- 
ducted special pilgrimages from their cities to the Taber- 
nacle. 

Civic pride and interest were greatly stimulated by such 
enterprise as that shown by the Dallas News, which con- 
ducted an unremitting campaign for the beautification and 
improvement of that city. The boosting of the Pacific 
Coast papers was also notable. This spirit, in the news- 
paper offices of the country, has been the core of commu- 
nity improvement and civic pride. 

27 



Standing now In 191 8 we can look back with proper 
perspective upon the events of 191 7. In this year of de- 
cisive action, when through unprecedented stress the news- 
paperwas confronted with unique opportunities for service, 
it rose to the crisis, attained unity without uniform- 
ity, identified itself with national purpose, and in its 
columns originated the grim purpose of the American 
people. The most remarkable tribute to the press is the 
very fact that no one individual newspaper stands out 
above the others. On a single high standard of national 
service they joined forces, welding themselves into the 
dominating influence of the country. Nor did the usual 
necessary activities of the newspapers become lost. Over- 
shadowed by the war, they were nevertheless carried on 
consistently and forcefully. 

We are entering upon our second year of war. We are 
facing a time full of perils and hardships. That the 
American press will bear its share of the burden, and carry 
on the work so well begun in the past year is natural and 
indubitable. When the forces of Liberty shall have 
brought the World War to a triumphant conclusion, the 
historian will find greater significance in no generalship 
or in no battle than in the share which the newspaper 
had in the victory of Democracy. 



28 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Newspapers 






Alabama : 


Birmingham 


Age-Herald 


California : 


Los Angeles 


Times 




San Francisco 


Chronicle 
Examiner 
Bulletin 


Colorado : 


Denver 


Rocky Mountain Herald 


Connecticut : 


Hartford 


Courant 


District of Columbia 


: Washington 


Post 


Florida : 


Jacksonville 


Times-Union 


Georgia : 


Atlanta 


Constitution 


Illinois: 


Chicago 


Tribune 

News 


Indiana: 


Indianapolis 


News 


Kansas : 


Emporia 


Gazette 




Topeka 


Capital 


Kentucky : 


Louisville 


Courier-Journal 


Louisiana: 


New Orleans 


Times-Picayune 


Maryland : 


Baltimore 


Sun 


Massachusetts: 


Boston 


Herald 
Post 

Transcript 
Globe 




New Bedford 


Standard 


Michigan: 


Detroit 


Free-Press 


Minnesota: 


Minneapolis 


Journal 


Mississippi: 


Jackson 


Clarion-Ledger 


Missouri: 


Kansas City 


Times 
Star 




St. Louis 


Post-Dispatch 


Nebraska : 


Omaha 


Bee 


New York: 


New York 


American 
Call 



29 



New York: 



New York 



Ohio: 
Pennsylvania : 



Rhode Island: 
South Carolina: 
Texas : 
Utah: 

Washington : 
Wisconsin : 



Cincinnati 
Philadelphia 



Providence 

Columbia 

Dallas 

Salt Lake City 

Seattle 

Milwaukee 



Globe 

Herald 

Journal 

Mail 

Post 

Staats-Zeitung 

Sun (m. & e.) 

Telegram 

Times 

Tribune 

World (m. & e.) 

Deutsches Journal 

Enquirer 

North American 

Press 

Public Ledger 

Journal 

State 

News 

Deseret News 

Post- 1 ntelligencer 

Sentinel 

Free Press 

Journal 



Note : This represents all the newspapers of which it was possible 
to obtain files. 

Reference 

Clippings from the collection in the School of Journalism. 

Trade Journals 

Editor and Publisher 
Fourth Estate 

Official Documents 

Report for 191 7 of the Secretar}^ of War 
Bulletin of the Committee on Public Information 



30 



German Newspapers (read for special period) 

St. Louis Westliche Post 

Omaha Tribune 

San Francisco Demokrat 

Milwaukee Germania Herold 

Cincinnati Volksblatt 

Denver Colorado Herold 



31 



